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Galatians

Chapter 4

Adoption, Anguish, and the Free Woman

Paul carries the argument forward by describing life under the law as the condition of a child under guardians until the fullness of time, when God sends his Son to redeem and his Spirit to cry "Abba" in the hearts of adopted sons and heirs. He then turns personally to the Galatians with sorrow and tenderness, fearing their return to weak principles and recalling how warmly they once received him. The chapter ends by using Hagar and Sarah to contrast slavery and promise, present Jerusalem and the Jerusalem above, and to insist that believers belong with the free woman rather than the slave.

This chapter takes the identity statement at the end of chapter 3 and presses it into lived relation, pastoral anguish, and a final scriptural contrast between slavery and freedom. It prepares the call of chapter 5 by making clear that return to the law is a return to bondage.

3 sections·612 words·~3 min read

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Galatians 4

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vv. 1-7

Sons and Heirs

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W1hat I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he is the owner of everything. 2He is subject to guardians and trustees until the date set by his father. 3So also, when we were children, we were enslaved under the basic principles of the world.

4But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5to redeem those under the law, that we might receive our adoption as sons. 6And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” 7So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, you are also an heir through God.

vv. 8-20

Paul’s Concern for the Galatians

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F8ormerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. 9But now that you know God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you are turning back to those weak and worthless principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? 10You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! 11I fear for you, that my efforts for you may have been in vain.

12I beg you, brothers, become like me, for I became like you. You have done me no wrong. 13You know that it was because of an illness that I first preached the gospel to you. 14And although my illness was a trial to you, you did not despise or reject me. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus Himself. 15What then has become of your blessing? For I can testify that, if it were possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. 16Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?

17Those people are zealous for you, but not in a good way. Instead, they want to isolate you from us, so that you may be zealous for them. 18Nevertheless, it is good to be zealous if it serves a noble purpose — at any time, and not only when I am with you. 19My children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, 20how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you.

vv. 21-31

Hagar and Sarah

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T21ell me, you who want to be under the law, do you not understand what the law says? 22For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. 23His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born through the promise. 24These things serve as illustrations, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children into slavery: This is Hagar. 25Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present-day Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. 26But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. 27For it is written:

28Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29At that time, however, the son born by the flesh persecuted the son born by the Spirit. It is the same now. 30But what does the Scripture say? “Expel the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.” 31Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.

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  1. 01vv. 1-7Sons and HeirsPaul explains that before the appointed time an heir, though owner of everything, lives under guardians like a slave, and he says the same was true of those once held under the world's elementary principles. But at the fullness of time God sent his Son, born of woman and born under the law, to redeem and adopt, and then sent the Spirit of his Son into hearts so that those once enslaved now cry "Abba, Father" as sons and heirs.
  2. 02vv. 8-20Paul’s Concern for the GalatiansPaul reminds the Galatians that before knowing God they were enslaved to what are not gods, and he is bewildered that those now known by God would turn back toward weak and beggarly principles and a calendar-bound religious bondage. He then speaks with tenderness about their earlier welcome of him in bodily weakness, asks how that warmth has turned to hostility, and says that his present anguish for them is like childbirth until Christ is formed in them.
  3. 03vv. 21-31Hagar and SarahPaul addresses those who want to be under the law by returning to Abraham's two sons, one born according to the flesh through the slave woman and the other through promise by the free woman. He reads these women as an illustration of two covenants, contrasting Sinai and present Jerusalem with the Jerusalem above, slavery with freedom, and persecution with inheritance, and he concludes that believers belong not to the slave woman but to the free.
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